But while you know to install essential programs like Firefox and Steam onto every new PC, there are plenty of core utilities you should install before downloading any application software. We pick out the 33 most useful utilities that enhance the Windows operating system. These aren't apps used for productivity (like word processing or web browsing) or entertainment (like video playback or gaming). Instead, they strengthen the backbone of Windows by optimizing hardware and system software. From single-purpose diagnostic tools to user-interface replacements, these programs provide general support to overhaul the gestalt of the Windows experience. Think you have every utility to bend Windows to your wishes?

Cobian Backup After recommending SyncBack SE in our last app roundup, our readers turned us onto Cobian, an independently-developed backup utility that is as elegant as it is powerful.
Open Source Living. Free Software to Organize Start Menu of Windows. By Garima on July 26, 2010 | Sponsored Links Start Menu Organizer is a free software that lets you organize Windows start menu so that you can look up for your favorite applications in an instant without making much efforts.

Another free software to organize your Start Menu is JetStart Menu. With so many applications on the run and programs, your start menu gets much more complicated and users are unable to look up for their favorite applications as it takes a lot of time and efforts searching for it and then launching it. But with Start Menu Organizer, you can organize your start menu by grouping together all your applications into categories like internet, office and so on. It consumes less time and you can look up for your favorite applications instantly. Sponsored Links This is an intuitive step towards efficiency and saves a lot of your precious time. If you want to try some good free application launchers, you can try Launchy, nDroid, and Radian Application Launcher.

4 Applications That You Do Not Know (But Should)
Most computer users are happy with what they got.

They use the same set of computer programs day in day out without spending a thought on the thousands of software programs that might be better suited for their needs. The majority are using the same programs. Winamp for music, Firefox for web browsing, Windows Media Player for videos, iTunes for managing the music collection, Gmail for email and so on. The following article will review four applications that you probably never heard about before that might replace installed applications or improve your computer experience in other ways. F.Lux I reviewed the computer monitor lighting solution a while ago and it is actually one of the few applications that run all the time on my main computer system. 2.
Oscar winning video editor goes open-source. Oscar and Emmy award-winning editing software ‘Lightworks is going open-source.

EditShare, the company behind Lightworks, see open-sourcing the editing application as a way to “…release its full potential…“’ Developers, aside from being able to enhance, build on and add to Lightworks, will also be able to sell their Lightworks plug-ins, etc through a centralized Lightworks online marketplace. “Lightworks offers intuitive controls, advanced real time effects, 2K native support with DPX or RED, and multi-camera editing features that remain unmatched.” Features Lightworks currently packs in an impressive feature set, supporting resolution and codec independent edits, unlimited multi-cam editing, a slew of professional effects, including outputting them in real-time at both SD, HD and 2K resolutions (!)

Check out LightWorks full spec list @ this link Download The project has only just been announced as open-source so there are no downloads to be had just yet. Get involved Thanks to walo. PhpVirtualBox. Well, to be honest I am an IT student.

I have used just about everything for VM's minus Xen for linux. I mainly use VMWare workstation and that works good for almost anything. If you are using a dedicated pc and want to put multiple OS's on it then I would suggest ESXi or Citrix XenServer.
Gephi, graph exploration. Some handy Linux commands « The World of VoIP, Asterisk and Linux. On an asterisk system, I usually need the following very often: Sync contents of two folders: rsync -av --progress / / Check disk usage for a specific folder: du -sh Check available space on the hard drive: Truncate a log file, e.g. it happens sometimes that someone’s asterisk stops working because /var/log/asterisk/full has consumed all the hard disk space: cat /dev/null > /var/log/asterisk/full Find big directories which are consuming hard disk space.